Managing security actions in a computing environment based on communication activity of a security threat

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and software described herein provide security actions based on the current state of a security threat. In one example, a method of operating an advisement system in a computing environment with a plurality of computing assets includes identifying a security threat within the computing environment. The method further includes, in response to identifying the security threat, obtaining state information for the security threat within the computing environment, and determining a current state for the security threat within the computing environment. The method also provides obtaining enrichment information for the security threat and determining one or more security actions for the security threat based on the enrichment information and the current state for the security threat.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, and claims the benefit ofpriority to, U.S. application Ser. No. 14/824,262, filed on Aug. 12,2015, entitled “CLASSIFYING KILL-CHAINS FOR SECURITY ACTIONS,” whichitself claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/087,025, entitled “ACTION RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COMPUTING ASSETS BASEDON ENRICHMENT INFORMATION,” filed on Dec. 3, 2014, U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/106,830, entitled “ACTION RECOMMENDATIONS FORADMINISTRATORS IN A COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT,” filed on Jan. 23, 2015, andU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/106,837, entitled “SECURITYACTIONS IN A COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT,” filed on Jan. 23, 2015, all ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects of the disclosure are related to computing environment security,and in particular to defining kill-chains for security incidents toassist in identifying security actions for a computing environment.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

An increasing number of data security threats exist in the moderncomputerized society. These threats may include viruses or other malwarethat attacks the local computer of the end user, or sophisticated cyberattacks to gather data and other information from the cloud or serverbased infrastructure. This server based infrastructure includes real andvirtual computing devices that are used to provide a variety of servicesto user computing systems, such as data storage, cloud processing, websites and services, amongst other possible services. To protectapplications and services, various antivirus, encryption, and firewallimplementations may be used across an array of operating systems, suchas Linux and Microsoft Windows.

Further, some computing environments may implement security informationand event management (SIEM) systems and other security detection systemsto provide real-time analysis of security alerts generated by networkhardware and applications. In particular, SIEM systems allow forreal-time monitoring, correlation of events, notifications, and consoleviews for end users. Further, SIEM systems may provide storage logscapable of managing historical information about various security eventswithin the network. Although SIEMs and other security identifyingsystems may generate security alerts for devices within the network,administrators may be forced to translate each of these alerts intoparticular actions, and may further be forced to gather additionalinformation about the alert before taking the action. Thus, time andresources that could be used on other tasks may be used in researchingand determining an appropriate course of action to handle a securitythreat.

OVERVIEW

The technology disclosed herein enhances how security actions aredetermined in response to security threats for a computing environment.In one example, an advisement system is configured to identify asecurity threat within a computing environment comprising a plurality ofcomputing assets. The advisement system is further configured to, inresponse to identifying the security threat, obtain state informationfor the security threat within the computing environment, and determinea current state for the security threat within the computingenvironment. The advisement system is also configured to obtainenrichment information for the security threat, and determine one ormore security actions for the security threat based on the enrichmentinformation and the current state for the security threat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with referenceto the following drawings. While several implementations are describedin connection with these drawings, the disclosure is not limited to theimplementations disclosed herein. On the contrary, the intent is tocover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents.

FIG. 1 illustrates a computing environment to manage security actionsfor a plurality of network assets.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method of operating an advisement system toimplement actions in computing assets based on a kill-state of asecurity threat.

FIG. 3 illustrates an operational scenario of identifying securityactions based on kill-state information.

FIG. 4 illustrates an operational scenario for operating an advisementsystem to provide security actions based on the kill-state of a securitythreat.

FIG. 5 illustrates an advisement computing system to provide securityactions for a plurality of network assets.

TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE

The various examples disclosed herein provide for identifying securityactions using kill-state information related to the particular securitythreat. In many situations, organizations may employ a variety ofcomputing assets, which may include various hardware and processes.During the operation of the hardware and process, security incidents mayoccur, which inhibit the operation of the assets and the environment asa whole. In some implementations, security-monitoring systems, such assecurity information and event management (SIEM) systems or localsecurity process on each computing element, may identify a securityincident or threat.

In response to identifying the security threat, information about thethreat may be transferred or passed to an advisement system to determinea course of action to take against the security threat. In at least oneexample, responsive to identifying a security incident, the advisementsystem may obtain enrichment information about the incident frominternal and external sources. These sources may include websites,databases, or other similar sources that maintain information aboutvarious threats that could be present within the organization'scomputing assets. For example, an unknown process may be identified as asecurity threat for a computing asset. In response to identifying theunknown process, the advisement system may query a database to determineif the unknown process is malicious.

Once the enrichment information is obtained with regards to theincident, the advisement system may identify a rule set for the incidentbased on the enrichment information, and determine a set of actionrecommendations based on the rule set. These action recommendations mayinclude a variety of procedures that eliminate, segregate, monitor, orprovide other similar actions on the identified threat. For example, ifthe enrichment information indicated that an unknown process wasmalicious, the action suggestions that are identified for the incidentmay include segregating the affected computing asset from othercomputing assets in the environment, removing files and other objectsfrom the affected computing asset related to the malicious process,further monitoring the actions of the malicious process, or othersimilar operations that are directed at the malicious process.

Here, to aid in determining the actions to be taken against a particularthreat, the advisement system may be configured to obtain kill-stateinformation for the threat. This kill-state information may includeinformation about the behavior of the threat, such as whether the threatis reaching out to other systems within the environment, whether thethreat is scanning ports within the environment to gather informationabout the configuration of the environment, whether the threat isattempting to remove data from particular assets, whether the threat isattempting to migrate to other assets in the environment, or any othersimilar information. Based on the information, which may be gatheredfrom the affected asset, as well as other assets within the environment,the advisement system may determine a current state for the securitythreat. This state may include a reconnaissance state, which correspondsto threats that are attempting to gather information about the structureof the computing environment, an exploit state, wherein the threat isattempting to gain access to a particular unapproved portion of thecomputing environment, a persist state, wherein the threat is attemptingto remain active in the particular asset, a lateral movement state,wherein the threat is attempting to move to other assets within theenvironment, an exfiltration state, wherein the threat is attempting toremoved data from the environment, or any other similar state related tothe threat.

To determine that a threat is in a reconnaissance state, the advisementsystem may monitor the incoming connections from external computingsystems to determine whether internet protocol (IP) addresses, mediaaccess control (MAC) address, ports, and other similar identificationinformation is sought by the external system. To determine that a threatis in an exploit state, the advisement system may identify that a fewinternal connections were made along with an attempt to install or makeavailable processes for data transfer tools. To determine that a threatis in a persist state, the advisement system may monitor theinstallation and execution of unknown processes related to the securitythreat on affected assets within the environment. To determine that athreat is in a lateral movement state, the advisement system may monitorthe number of connections between assets in the environment, the typesof assets that are communicating in the environment, the relation ofinternal connections to external connections by the threat, or othersimilar information related to the threat. To determine that a threat isin an exfiltration state, the advisement system may monitor theexistence of data transfer tools on systems related to the threat, maymonitor the outbound connections from affects assets, may monitor theamount of data movement from an asset to a system external from theenvironment, or may monitor other similar attributes to the system.These are just some examples of determining the current state of athreat, it should be understood that other examples of determining thecurrent state may exist and are in the scope of the present disclosure.

Once the current state is determined for the threat, one or moresecurity actions may be identified to respond to the threat based on thecurrent state and the enrichment information. In some implementations,the enrichment information may be used to identify a rule set for thethreat. For example, if an unknown process is identified as executing onan asset, one or more internal and external sources may be used toidentify the type of threat that the process presents to theenvironment, such as a Trojan, virus, or some other threat. Once therule set is identified, the state of the threat may be used to determinewhat actions, which are associated with the rule set, are going to beused to respond to the threat. Accordingly, a threat that is in areconnaissance state may not have the same actions identified as athreat that is in an exfiltration state.

In some examples, the enrichment information obtained from the internaland external sources may relate kill-state information to the identityof the threat. For example, if an unknown process were identified on anasset within the environment, an identifier for the process may be usedto search for kill-state information about the process. This identifiermay include the name of the process, a vendor signature associated withthe process, or any other similar identifier for the threat. Once theidentifier information is provided to the sources, the sources maysearch their databases and data structures to identify related threatsthat are identical or closely resemble the identifier informationprovided by the advisement system. Once related threats are identified,kill-state information, such as the routine or timing of operations bythe unknown process, may be provided to the advisement system. Thisroutine or timing of operations may indicate a timeline of what stateoccurs at what time, and what should be observed in the environmentduring each particular state. Using the unknown process example above,at a first observation time of the environment, a first kill-state maybe identified by the advisement system, whereas at a second observationtime of the environment, a second kill-state may be identified by theadvisement system. These different states may then be related todifferent actions to remedy or mitigate the threat.

In some implementations, the actions that are identified for the threatmay be implemented without receiving feedback from an administrator ofthe environment. However, in addition to or in place of the automatedresponse, the advisement system may provide the identified actions assuggestions to an administrator associated with the computingenvironment. Once the action suggestions are provided, the administratormay select one or more of the actions, causing the actions to beimplemented within the environment.

In some examples, the advisement system may be configured withconnectors or other software modules that can be used to automate theimplementation of particular security actions. These connectors may bedeveloped to provide particular operations for various hardware andsoftware configurations. Accordingly, if a security action is selectedto implement a firewall rule, one connector may be used for a firstfirewall distributer, and a second connector may be used for the secondfirewall distributer. Consequently, rather than going through theprocedures to implement a security action across a plurality of hardwareand software platforms, the connectors may be used to implement ageneric action across the computing environment.

To further illustrate the operation of an advisement system within acomputing network, FIG. 1 is provided. FIG. 1 illustrates a computingenvironment 100 to manage security actions for a plurality of networkassets. Computing environment 100 includes computing assets 110-116,SIEM system 120, advisement system 130, sources 140, and administrationconsole 150. Computing assets 110-116 include applications 110, routers(rtrs) 111, intrusion detection systems and intrusion prevention system(IDS/IDP) 112, virtual private networks (VPNs) 113, firewalls 114,switches 115, and operating systems 116, although other assets mayexist. Assets 110-116 may execute via any number of computing systems ordevices. In addition to the routers and switches, these computingdevices may include server computers, desktop computers, laptopcomputers, tablet computers, and the like. Although not illustrated inthe present example, in some implementations, assets may be defined atcomputing system level. Accordingly, assets may be defined as physicalcomputing systems, such as servers, end user computing systems, hostcomputing systems, and the like, and may further be defined as virtualcomputing systems, such as virtual machines executing via host computingsystems. These physical and virtual computing systems may include anoperating system, applications, processes, firewalls, and other similarcomputing resources.

SIEM system 120, advisement system 130, internal and external sources140, and administration console 150 may each include communicationinterfaces, network interfaces, processing systems, computer systems,microprocessors, storage systems, storage media, or some otherprocessing devices or software systems, and can be distributed amongmultiple devices. SIEM system 120, advisement system 130, and sources140 may comprise one or more server, desktop, laptop, or other similarcomputing devices. Administration console 150 may comprise an end userdevice, such as a desktop computer, laptop computer, smartphone, tablet,or any other similar computing device.

Advisement system 130 communicates with SIEM system 120, sources 140,and administration console 150 via communication links that may use TimeDivision Multiplex (TDM), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), internetprotocol (IP), Ethernet, synchronous optical networking (SONET), hybridfiber-coax (HFC), circuit-switched communication signaling, wirelesscommunications, or some other communication format, includingcombinations and improvements thereof. Similarly, SIEM system 120 maygather information from assets 110-116 via a plurality of communicationlinks to the computing systems associated with the assets, wherein thelinks may use TDM, ATM, IP, Ethernet, SONET, HFC, circuit-switchedcommunication signaling, wireless communications, or some othercommunication format, including combinations and improvements thereof.While not illustrated in the present example, it should be understoodthat advisement system 130 might communicate with the assets overvarious communication links and communication formats to implementdesired security actions, or to receive an incident report.

In operation, SIEM system 120 receives data and performance informationfrom assets 110-116 and performs inspections to identify possiblesecurity issues. Once SIEM system 120 identifies a possible securitythreat, information about the security threat is transferred toadvisement system 130. Advisement system 130 identifies the securitythreat and analyzes the threat using sources 140 to determine actions tobe taken against the threat. Once the actions are identified, theactions may be implemented without administrator interaction byadvisement system 130, or in the alternative, the actions may betransferred, via email, text message, or other similar format, toadministration console 150 to be presented to administrator 160. Oncepresented, administrator 160 may select one or more of the actions,which may then be implemented by advisement system 130.

To further illustrate the operation of computing environment 100, FIG. 2is provided. FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 of operating advisementsystem 130 to implement actions in computing assets based on akill-state of a security threat. In particular, as described in FIG. 1,SIEM system 120 receives information from a plurality of network assets110-116 and identifies security threats based on the information. Once athreat is identified, the threat is transferred to advisement system130. Advisement system 130 identifies the security threat or incidentwithin computing environment 100 (201), and in response to identifyingthe incident, obtains state information for the threat in computingenvironment 100 (202). This state information may include variousinformation about the behavior of the threat, including the number ofcommunications initiated by the threat, the type of information seekingto be obtained by the threat, the type of computing systems targeted bythe threat, the communication path of the threat, the number of othersystems in the environment being communicated with by the threat, or anyother similar information about the behavior of the threat. Theinformation may be obtained by the system affected by the threat, andmay also be provided by other systems or assets within the computingenvironment. For example, if communications related to the securitythreat involved a large number of internal assets to the computingenvironment, the information may be useful in identifying that thethreat is in a lateral stage within the environment.

Once the state information is obtained, advisement system 130 determinesa current state for the security threat within the environment (203). Asdescribed herein, threats within a computing environment may havevarious activity states within the various assets. These states mayinclude a reconnaissance state, which corresponds to threats that areattempting to gather information about the structure of the computingenvironment, an exploit state, wherein the threat is attempting to gainaccess to a particular unapproved portion of the computing environment,a persist state, wherein the threat is attempting to remain active inthe particular asset, a lateral movement state, wherein the threat isattempting to move to other assets within the environment, anexfiltration state, wherein the threat is attempting to remove data fromthe environment, or any other similar state related to the threat.Accordingly, a first action may be preferred against a threat in a firststate, whereas a second action may be preferred against a threat in asecond state. For example, a threat that is attempting to contact ormove laterally to other systems in the computing environment may have adifferent security action response than a threat that is attempting tomove or exfiltrate data to an external system from the computingenvironment.

In addition to determining information about the state of a threat,advisement system 130 obtains enrichment information related to thethreat (204). Specifically, advisement system 130 may identifyproperties or traits of the incident, such as the internet protocol (IP)address related to the threat, distributor information for the threat,the computing device for the incident, the host, the user, any uniformresource locators (URLs) associated with the incident, or any otherthreat information specific to the security incident. Once theproperties are identified, advisement system 130 may identifyinformation related to the threat using internal and external sources140. These sources may include databases or websites that keep track ofmalicious IP addresses or domain names, the type of threats presentedfrom the particular domain names, identities of malware, Trojans, andviruses, amongst a variety of other information.

Upon determining enrichment information related to a particular threat,advisement system 130 determines security actions for the threat basedon the enrichment information and current state (205). These actions mayinclude blocking a particular IP address, removing a particular processfrom a computing asset, moving one or more computing assets to a virtuallocal area network (VLAN), limiting the outgoing and incomingcommunications at an asset, or any other similar action. In someimplementations, the security actions may be implemented withoutexternal approval from an administrator. In addition to or in place ofthe automated action, the actions may be supplied to an administratorassociated with the computing environment. Once provided, either locallyat advisement system 130 or externally at administration console 150,the administrator may select one or more of the actions to beimplemented within the environment. Upon selection by the administrator,advisement system 130 identifies or obtains the selection, and initiatesimplementation of the selected action.

In some examples, to determine the security actions for the threat,advisement system 130 may determine a rule set for the particular threatbased on the enrichment information. For instance, various rule sets maybe defined within data structures that are accessible by advisementcomputing system 130. These rule sets may include separate rule sets forviruses, denial of service attacks, malware attacks, or any othersimilar type of identified process based on the enrichment information.Once a rule set is determined, advisement system 130 may identify thesecurity actions associated with the rule set based on the currentstate. In some implementations, each rule set may be associated with aplurality of actions that can be taken against a particular threat orincident. To select a subset of actions associated with the rule set,the current state may be defined for the threat, and based on thecurrent state, specific actions associated with the rule set may beselected. As a result, actions for a threat in a first state may bedifferent from the actions for the same threat in a second state.

In some implementations, a database of security actions may be storedwithin one or more data structures accessible to the advisement system,which allow the advisement system to select actions based on the type ofthreat and the current state of the threat. In some examples, thesecurity actions may be associated with keywords, allowing theadvisement system to identify all actions associated with particularkeywords. For instances, if the advisement system determined that athreat was a virus in an exfiltration state, the advisement system maysearch the one or more data structures for actions related to “virus”and “exfiltration state.” These actions may then be selected for theparticular threat.

Although illustrated in FIG. 1 with a SIEM system, it should beunderstood that other systems might be used to identify securitythreats. For example, other security monitoring systems, users withinthe environment, or the assets may directly notify advisement system 130of a security threat. Further, although illustrated separate in theexample of FIG. 1, it should be understood that SIEM system 120 mightreside wholly or partially on the same computing systems as advisementsystem 130.

Turning to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 illustrates an operational scenario 300 ofidentifying security actions based on kill-state information.Operational scenario 300 includes asset environment 305, asset 310,advisement system 320, sources 325, action suggestions 330, andadministrator 340. Asset environment 305 includes a plurality ofcomputing assets, including asset 310. Asset 310 may comprise a servercomputing system, end user computing system, virtual computing system,router, or some other computing asset.

In operation, a SIEM system, security processes on the computing assets,or other similar security processes identify a security threatassociated with asset 310, and notifies advisement system 320 of thethreat. In response to being notified of the threat, advisement system320 obtains state information for the threat from asset environment 305,and further gathers enrichment information for the threat from sources325. The state information for the threat corresponds to the currentbehavior expressed by the threat, which may include the number of timesthat a threat has been identified within the environment, whether thethreat is attempting to reach out to other assets in the environment,whether the threat is attempting to contact an outside computing system,whether the threat is attempting to gain access to a particularcomputing system, or other similar information from asset environment305. The state information may be gathered from the asset associatedwith the identified threat, and may also be gathered from one or moreother computing assets within the environment. Once the stateinformation is obtained from asset environment 305, advisement system320 may determine a current state for the threat within the environmentbased on the state information. These states may include, but are notlimited to, a reconnaissance state, an exploit state, a persist state, alateral movement state, or an exfiltration state. For example, if athreat located on an affected asset were attempting to communicate witha plurality of other assets within the environment, then the threat maybe determined to be in a lateral movement state. In another example, ifthe device were attempting to move a threshold amount of data to asystem external to the network, then it may be determined that thesystem is in an exfiltration state. Further, if it were identified thatthe threat was attempting to install software or a process on anaffected asset, then it might be determined that the threat is in apersist state.

Before, during, or after determining the state of the threat within theenvironment, advisement system 320 may obtain enrichment informationfrom sources 325. Sources 325 may correspond to internal or externaldatabases or websites that store information about the various possiblethreats to asset environment 305. For example, when an unknown IPaddress is attempting to access asset 310, advisement system 320 mayquery sources 325 to determine information about the unknown IP address,such as whether the IP address is known to be malicious or any otherinformation. In some implementations, the enrichment information mayinclude state information or timing of operations for the securitythreat. This timing of operations information may indicate what shouldbe observed in the environment during each particular state of thethreat. Accordingly, at a first observation time of the environment, afirst kill-state may be identified by the advisement system, whereas ata second observation time of the environment, a second kill-state may beidentified by the advisement system.

Once the enrichment information and the current state are identified forthe security threat, advisement system 320 may determine actions to betaken against the security threat. In particular, advisement system 320generates action suggestions 330 based on the enrichment information andthe current state of the threat. Once generated, actions 335-337 areprovided to administrator 340 either locally through a user interface onadvisement system 320, or through an external administration console. Inresponse to receiving action suggestions 330, administrator 340 mayselect at least one of actions 335-337 to be implemented within assetenvironment 305. Once selected, advisement system 320 may initiateimplementation of the actions within the environment.

In some implementations, advisement system 320 may be configured withsoftware modules or connectors that can be used in implementing aparticular action for asset environment 305. These connectors allow anaction command in a first language from an administrator to betranslated to the various action processes necessary to implement theaction in various hardware and software configurations. For example, theadministrator may specify in the first language to “block IP addressAlpha on computing assets X and Y.” In response to the command,advisement system 320 may translate the command into the processesnecessary to block IP address Alpha on computing assets X and Y, even ifcomputing assets X and Y possess different hardware or softwareconfigurations. These actions may include logging into the necessarycomputing asset, and implementing one or more procedures in thecomputing asset to block the necessary IP address.

Referring now to FIG. 4 to further demonstrate the selection of actionsfrom a rule set. FIG. 4 illustrates an operational scenario 400 foroperating an advisement system to provide security actions based on thekill-state of a security threat. Operational scenario 400 includessecurity threat 410, asset environment 405, advisement system 415,enrichment sources 425, and administrator (admin) 450.

As depicted advisement system 415 is configured to identify securitythreat 410 within a computing environment. This identification could betransferred from a SIEM system or other security-monitoring module, ormay be transferred from the assets within the computing environment.Once the security threat is identified, rule set process 420 identifiesa rule set for the particular threat. Here, to identify the threat,advisement system 415 may query enrichment sources 425, which maycomprise websites and other similar databases, to determine informationabout the threat. This information may include whether the threat ismalicious, what data the threat is attempting to obtain, or othersimilar various characteristics about the threat. Based on theenrichment information, rule set 430 is determined with state actions435-437 that correspond to the various states of the particular threat.These states may include a reconnaissance state, an exploit state, apersist state, lateral movement state, an exfiltration state, or anyother similar state.

Once the rule set is determined by advisement system 415, action process440 may be used to identify security actions to respond to securitythreat 410. To determine the appropriate set of actions, action process440 may obtain state information for the threat within asset environment405. Asset environment 405, which includes the one or more assetsaffected by security threat 410 as well additional computing assets, mayprovide information about the threat including the number of times thatthe threat has been detected, the communication traits for the threatwithin the environment, the types of data that the threat is attemptingto access, the current operational characteristics of the threat, or anyother similar state related information. Based on the state information,a state for the threat is determined, and applied to rule set 430 todetermine the appropriate security actions to respond to the threat.Accordingly, state A actions 435 may comprise different actions thanstate B or C actions 436-437. For example, if a threat were in areconnaissance state, a first set of actions may be provided for thatstate. In contrast, if the threat were in a data exfiltration state, adifferent, and possibly more drastic set of actions may be selected forthreat. Further, in some examples, the actions that are provided to theadministrator may be ranked or provided in a specific order to theadministrator, allowing the administrator to select the action that isbest suited for the current state of the threat.

In some implementations, upon determination of the one or more securityactions, advisement system 415 may initiate implementation of thesecurity actions within the asset environment. These actions may includemaking modifications to one or more firewalls in the asset environment,removing processes from the environment, segregating one or more of theassets from other assets in the environment, or any other similar actionincluding combinations thereof. In other implementations, the identifiedsecurity actions may be provided to administrator 450, allowingadministrator 450 to select the desired actions. Once the administratorselects the actions, advisement system 415 may initiate implementationof the actions within the environment.

In some examples, advisement system 415 may have access to connectors orother modules that can be used to deploy security actions across avariety of hardware and software configurations. For instance, anadministrator may select, using a unified command language, to block aparticular IP address from a plurality of computing assets in theenvironment. Once specified by the administrator, the action selectionmay be translated into the necessary processes for the plurality ofcomputing assets based on the hardware and software configurations forthe computing assets. As a result, the process for implementing the IPaddress block in a first computing asset may be different than theprocess for implementing the IP address block in a second computingasset.

FIG. 5 illustrates an advisement computing system 500 to providesecurity actions for a plurality of network assets. Advisement computingsystem 500 is representative of a computing system that may be employedin any computing apparatus, system, or device, or collections thereof,to suitably implement the advisement systems described herein. Computingsystem 500 comprises communication interface 501, user interface 502,and processing system 503. Processing system 503 is communicativelylinked to communication interface 501 and user interface 502. Processingsystem 503 includes processing circuitry 505 and memory device 506 thatstores operating software 507.

Communication interface 501 comprises components that communicate overcommunication links, such as network cards, ports, radio frequency (RF)transceivers, processing circuitry and software, or some othercommunication devices. Communication interface 501 may be configured tocommunicate over metallic, wireless, or optical links. Communicationinterface 501 may be configured to use TDM, IP, Ethernet, opticalnetworking, wireless protocols, communication signaling, or some othercommunication format—including combinations thereof. In particular,communication interface 501 may communicate with security identificationsystems, such as SIEM systems, security systems on the assetsthemselves, or some other security identification system. Further,communication interface 501 may be configured to communicate with one ormore administration consoles to provide the suggested actions toadministrators, and the computing assets of the environment to implementselected actions.

User interface 502 comprises components that interact with a user. Userinterface 502 may include a keyboard, display screen, mouse, touch pad,or some other user input/output apparatus. User interface 502 may beomitted in some examples.

Processing circuitry 505 comprises microprocessor and other circuitrythat retrieves and executes operating software 507 from memory device506. Memory device 506 comprises a non-transitory storage medium, suchas a disk drive, flash drive, data storage circuitry, or some othermemory apparatus. Operating software 507 comprises computer programs,firmware, or some other form of machine-readable processinginstructions. Operating software 507 includes identify module 508, statemodule 509, enrichment (enrich) module 510, and action module 511,although any number of software modules may provide the same operation.Operating software 507 may further include an operating system,utilities, drivers, network interfaces, applications, or some other typeof software. When executed by circuitry 505, operating software 507directs processing system 503 to operate advisement computing system 500as described herein.

In particular, identify module 508 when executed by processing system503 is configured to identify a security threat within a computingenvironment that comprises a plurality of computing assets. This threatmay include an unknown process executing on one or the computing assets,an unknown communication identified within the computing assets,unpredictable behavior for one or more of the computing assets,irregular behavior for one or more of the assets, or any other securitythreat. In some examples, a SIEM system or other security-monitoringmodule may identify a threat and, in turn, notify computing system 500of the threat. However, in other examples, the computing assets maydirectly notify computing system 500 of the threat.

Once identified by computing system 500, state module 509 directsprocessing system 503 to obtain state information for the securitythreat within the computing environment. This state information mayinclude various characteristics associated with the behavior of thethreat, including the number of times that the threat contacted otherdevices in the network, the information that the threat is attempting toaccess, the port scans of the threat on devices within the environment,or any other similar information about the threat. Based on theinformation state module 509 directs processing system 503 to determinea current state for the security threat within the environment. Thiscurrent state may comprise a reconnaissance state, an exploit state, apersist state, a lateral movement state, an exfiltration state, or anyother relevant state.

In addition to identifying the state for the threat, enrich module 510directs processing system 503 to obtain enrichment information for thesecurity threat. In some implementations, threat information may beobtained as the threat is reported to computing system 500. This threatinformation, which may be retrieved from security monitoring systems aswell as the assets within the environment, may include IP informationrelated to the threat, process names associated with the threat,websites or other addresses associated with the threat, users associatedwith the threat, or any other similar information associated with thethreat. Based on the threat information provided, internal and/orexternal sources may be queried to receive additional information aboutthe threat, such as whether the threat is a virus, Trojan, denial ofservice attack, or any other additional information.

After obtaining the enrichment information and the determining thecurrent state of the threat, action module 511 directs processing system503 to identify actions to be taken against the particular threat basedon the enrichment information and current state. In someimplementations, actions may be taken directly by computing system 500without interaction by an administrator. However, in addition to or inplace of the automated action, action module 511 may be configured toprovide the identified actions to an administrator, allowing theadministrator to select one or more of the actions to be implemented inthe environment. To provide the actions, the actions may be displayed onuser interface 502, or may be transferred via communication interface501 to an external administration console device. Once the administratorselects actions from the provided suggested actions, computing system500 may initiate implementation of the action within the environment.

In some implementations, to determine the actions to be taken againstthe threat, the enrichment information may be used to identify a ruleset for a particular threat. For example, the enrichment information mayidentify that a particular process is a malicious virus that collectsand transfers data to a remote location. Accordingly, a rule set may beidentified for the malicious process, which is associated with actionsthat can be taken against the malicious process. Once the rule set isdetermined, the current state of the threat within the environment maybe used to identify and organize a subset of security actions associatedwith rule set to respond to the threat. Accordingly, if the threat werein a more severe state, such as extracting data from the computingenvironment, computing system 500 may identify more drastic actions thanif the threat were in a reconnaissance state. Further, when providingthe security actions to an administrator for selection, the currentstate of the threat may be used to rank the security actions based onwhich action is most appropriate for the current state.

The included descriptions and figures depict specific implementations toteach those skilled in the art how to make and use the best option. Forthe purpose of teaching inventive principles, some conventional aspectshave been simplified or omitted. Those skilled in the art willappreciate variations from these implementations that fall within thescope of the invention. Those skilled in the art will also appreciatethat the features described above can be combined in various ways toform multiple implementations. As a result, the invention is not limitedto the specific implementations described above, but only by the claimsand their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of improving security actions in acomputing environment, wherein the computing environment comprises aplurality of computing assets, the method comprising: identifying asecurity threat within the computing environment; obtaining stateinformation for the security threat within the computing environmentfrom computing assets of the plurality of computing assets in thecomputing environment, wherein the state information comprises at leastcommunication activity related to the security threat, wherein thecommunication activity comprises at least a quantity of connectionsassociated with the security threat and a quantity of exchanged dataassociated with the security threat; determining a current state for thesecurity threat within the computing environment based on the stateinformation; obtaining enrichment information for the security threat;and determining one or more security actions for the security threatbased on the enrichment information and the current state for thesecurity threat.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one ormore security actions for the security threat based on the enrichmentinformation and the current state comprises: identifying a rule setbased on the enrichment information; and identifying at least onesecurity action associated with the rule set based on the current state.3. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication activity comprises atype of data targeted by the security threat or communication paths ofthe security threat.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining thecurrent state for the security threat within the computing environmentcomprises determining whether the security threat is in a reconnaissancestate, an exploit state, a persist state, lateral movement state, or anexfiltration state.
 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, inresponse to determining the one or more security actions for thesecurity threat, initiating implementation of the one or more securityactions in the computing environment.
 6. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: in response to determining the one or more security actionsfor the security threat, providing the one or more security actions toat least one administrator for the computing environment; afterproviding the one or more security actions to the at least oneadministrator, obtaining an action selection from the at least oneadministrator from the one or more security actions; and initiatingimplementation of the action selection in the computing environment. 7.The method of claim 6 wherein determining the one or more securityactions for the security threat based on the enrichment information andthe current state comprises ranking the one or more security actions forthe security threat based on the current state.
 8. The method of claim 1wherein obtaining the enrichment information for the security threatcomprises obtaining, from at least one internal or external database,the enrichment information for the security threat.
 9. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the security threat comprises an unknown processexecuting within the computing environment, incoming communications froman unknown internet protocol (IP) address, or a denial of service ofattack.
 10. An apparatus to improve security actions for a computingenvironment, wherein the computing environment comprises a plurality ofcomputing assets, the apparatus comprising: one or more non-transitorycomputer readable storage media; and processing instructions stored onthe one or more computer readable media that, when executed by aprocessing system, direct the processing system to: identify a securitythreat within the computing environment; obtain state information forthe security threat within the computing environment from computingassets of the plurality of computing assets in the computingenvironment, wherein the state information comprises at leastcommunication activity related to the security threat, wherein thecommunication activity comprises at least a quantity of connectionsassociated with the security threat and a quantity of exchanged dataassociated with the security threat; determine a current state for thesecurity threat within the computing environment based on the stateinformation; obtain enrichment information for the security threat; anddetermine one or more security actions for the security threat based onthe enrichment information and the current state for the securitythreat.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the processinginstructions to determine the one or more security actions for thesecurity threat based on the enrichment information and the currentstate for the security threat direct the processing system to: identifya rule set based on the enrichment information; and identify the one ormore security actions associated with the rule set based on the currentstate.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the communication activitycomprises a type of data targeted by the security threat orcommunication paths of the security threat.
 13. The apparatus of claim10 wherein the processing instructions to determine the current statefor the security threat within the computing environment direct theprocessing system to determine whether the security threat is in areconnaissance state, an exploit state, a persist state, lateralmovement state, or an exfiltration state.
 14. The apparatus of claim 10wherein the processing instructions further direct the processing systemto, in response to determining the one or more security actions for thesecurity threat, initiate implementation of the one or more securityactions in the computing environment.
 15. The apparatus of claim 10wherein the processing instructions further direct the processing systemto: in response to determining the one or more security actions for thesecurity threat, provide the one or more security actions to at leastone administrator for the computing environment; after providing the oneor more security actions to the at least one administrator, obtain anaction selection from the at least one administrator from the one ormore security actions; and initiate implementation of the actionselection in the computing environment.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15wherein the processing instructions to determine the one or moresecurity actions for the security threat based on the enrichmentinformation and the current state direct the processing system to rankthe one or more security actions for the security threat based on thecurrent state.
 17. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the processinginstructions to obtain the enrichment information for the securitythreat direct the processing system to obtain, from at least oneinternal or external database, the enrichment information for thesecurity threat.
 18. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the securitythreat comprises an unknown process executing within the computingenvironment, incoming communications from an unknown internet protocol(IP) address, or a denial of service attack.
 19. An advisement system toimprove security actions for a computing environment comprising aplurality of computing assets, the advisement system comprising: acommunication interface configured to receive a notification of asecurity threat within the computing environment; and a processingsystem, communicatively coupled to the communication interface,configured to: obtain state information for the security threat withinthe computing environment from computing assets of the plurality ofcomputing assets in the computing environment, wherein the stateinformation comprises at least communication activity related to thesecurity threat, wherein the communication activity comprises at least aquantity of connections associated with the security threat and aquantity of exchanged data associated with the security threat;determine a current state for the security threat within the computingenvironment based on the state information; obtain enrichmentinformation for the security threat; and determine one or more securityactions for the security threat based on the enrichment information andthe current state for the security threat.
 20. The advisement system ofclaim 19 wherein the processing system is further configured to: inresponse to determining the one or more security actions for thesecurity threat, provide the one or more security actions to at leastone administrator for the computing environment; after providing the oneor more security actions to the at least one administrator, obtain anaction selection from the at least one administrator from the one ormore security actions; and initiate implementation of the actionselection in the computing environment.